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Re: G3/S3 - US/CT - U.S. to use profiling checks for incoming flights

Released on 2012-10-19 08:00 GMT

Email-ID

1282026

Date

2010-04-02 13:46:02

From

sean.noonan@stratfor.com

To

analysts@stratfor.com

List-Name

analysts@stratfor.com

Well, I guess this sounds a bit better than just choosing 14 countries,
but not much better. It will be interesting to see how the
intelligence-based attempt at profiling goes. And we should watch for
more announcements during the day.

Antonia Colibasanu wrote:

please include countries

The 14 countries include all A"state sponsors of terrorismA", Syria,
Cuba, Iran, and Sudan and some other A"high riskA" countries including
Yemen, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. I could not find a complete
list. This is the oldest article I could find.
U.S. to use profiling checks for incoming flights
The new system is a response to an attempt to blow up a plane last year
by a Nigerian passenger.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sc-dc-flight-screening-20100401,0,7560794.story

The Obama administration will announce Friday a new screening system for
flights to the United States under which passengers who fit an
intelligence profile of potential terrorists will be searched before
boarding their flight, a senior administration official said.

The procedures, which have been approved by President Obama, are aimed
at preventing another terror attack like the one attempted by Umar
Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian suspected of ties to al Qaeda who
tried to blow up an airliner Christmas Day with a bomb hidden in his
under wear, the official said.

In the wake of that attempt, the administration began mandatory
screening of airline passengers from 14 high-risk countries, including
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, which has resulted in thousands of
travellers each day being searched.

Under the new system, passengers on flights from all countries could be
subject to special screening before boarding if they have personal
characteristics that match the latest intelligence information about
potential attackers, the official said.

"We believe it is a much more effective system," that is "tailored to
optimize our ability to interdict would-be terrorists," said the senior
official, who described the plan in return for anonymity.

Even U.S. citizens travelling to the United States from abroad who
matched the characteristics would be subject to special screening, the
official said. Administration officials said the system would not amount
to improper profiling because by relying on specific and frequently
updated intelligence and broadening the number of countries covered
beyond the current 14 provided for greater fairness than the current
system.

The new plan is designed to catch terrorists about whom the U.S. may
know bits of information but not full names or other identifying data
that would result in their names being placed on a no-fly list. In many
cases, the U.S. might learn of a possible attack by someone about whom
it has only fragmentary informatiion--a partial name, nationality,
certain facial features, or details about recent travel.

Such information will be forwarded to airlines and foreign governments
by the Department of Homeland Security as it is received and will be
used to guide them in deciding which travellers to subject to special
screening, the official said.

In the case of Abdulmutallab, U.S. intelligence had received
communication intercepts months before the Christmas Day attempt about a
suspected plot involving a Nigerian as well as a partial name. The
breakdown came because intelligence officials failed to match that
information with a tip they received from Abdulmutallab's father that
his son had joined the jihadist movement.

Because of the failure to connect the available information,
Abdulmutallab' s name was placed on a database of possible extremists
but not on the no-fly list, which contains about 4,000 names, or on a
separate terrorism watch "selectee" list that contains fewer than 20,000
names. The new system seeks to eliminate this vulnerability by ensuring
that even without a name, airlines will receive information that will
enable them to select passengers for additional screening who fit the
profile of potential attackers, the official said.

"I like to think it would have increased our chances to stop"
Abdulmutallab, the senior official said.

Even if he had been pulled aside, security screeners would still have to
detect the bomb hidden in his under wear. "We like to think they would
have detected the IED," he said, using an abbreviation for improvised
explosive device. Techniques used for detecting hidden bombs, weapons or
other devices would not change under the new system.

The current practice of searching all passengers from 14 countries is
inconvenient and untargeted, the officials said. The new system,
although it applies to many more countries, will result in "a
significant reduction in the number of passengers receiving special
pre-boarding scrutiny than the thousands every day who are currently
searched, he estimated.

The new procedures are intended to supplement the watch-list system,
which remains in effect.

The types of information provided to airlines would be broad and varied,
officials said. In some cases, decisions about who is selected for
screening would be made automatically by matching the intelligence
information against information in databases about passengers. For
example, if the U.S. received information about countries a potential
terrorist had visited, all passengers who had visited those countries
could be pulled aside, the officials said.

In other cases, the decision about who to search will rely on the
discretion or vigilance of those dealing with the passengers For
example, if told to look for passengers with particular facial
characteristics, it would be up to screeners or airline personnel to
designate a passenger for special screening, the official said.

Relying on foreign personnel and, in some cases, on foreign airlines to
carry out the screening, could lead to gaps. U.S. officials would not
describe all the categories of information that would be included under
the new procedures. Doing so would alert potential attackers to ways of
defeating the system, they said. The Obama administration has been
notifying foreign governments about the new procedures.